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Topic: Elevate Addiction Services still operates as they did when named Vista (Read 37609 times)

I was a client at this facility. I am hoping posting this as a new topic will pop up on internet searches when other potential clients do an internet search on Elevate

Elevate Addiction Services is the DBA (doing business as. A DBA is also known as a ficitious business name) of the legal corporate entity Halcyon Horizons See Halcyon Horizon's non profit tax return forms 990. When Narconon Vista Bay filed their 2014 returns they are also under the corporate name Halcyon. Both Elevate Addiction Services and Narconon Vista Bay aka Redwood Cliffs have the SAME corporate tax ID number ALL entities have the SAME corporate members - Daniel Manson, Angela Manson etc.

Elevate still operates as they did when named Narconon and just renamed some of the program terminology. Elevate's business model is the same as Narconon based on finding the Narconon coursebooks. Elevate simply uses different names when referring to courses, etc. For example instead of being called "students" it's now "clients". Toxic people TP's, the coursework is divided into "phases". In the course workbooks, you read and do an assignment, raise your hand and a "counselor" formerly referred to as "instructor" reviews your answers and signs off on it so you can move on to the next. One still needs to use a dictionary to look up words, ie define what "communication" is - what's the definition and what does "communication" mean to you? It's basic elementary crap. In Phase 2, you do 4 Ed Blocks (education blocks which are 1 1/2 hour long) doing "observations" You spend 5 minutes "observing" an object - a blade of grass, a bottle, a sign, a leaf, and then describing it - the leaf is green, it has some red in it, and so on. They claim those exercises are to desensitize you to a bottle of vodka...it's just a bottle, blah blah blah.

They punish clients frequently - a fellow client was having a difficult few days - heck we all have life problems complicated by drug/alcohol so of course people will be negative at times, she was placed on "amends" for 4 days. Amends is when they pull you out of the program to perform laborious chores, raking leaves, pulling weeds, cleaning the bathrooms, mopping floors, etc. When you don't work the program your completion of the program is then delayed. You progress in the program is doing coursework in "educational block" that's why it's not a 90 day program and they call it progress based. If you are educated then the coursework is easy and you'll finish the program quicker. Elevate has no housekeeping or janitorial staff - they require clients to clean their rooms everyday (wiping down your bathroom countertops, cleaning the mirror, vacuum everyday, make your bed everyday -making the bed every day isn't a big deal but they are nit picky and look for any tiny flaw to issue a "CV" - conduct violation. My roomate & I were ages 38 + & very clean and orderly but were issued CV's because there was a couple of small tree leaves that had been tracked in & they said the room wasn't clean enough. If you have a CV you aren't allowed to an excursion - church or a rewards outing which is either to the beach for the afternoon or a movie. You must work off a CV by performing more chores. The everyday chores are assigned & changed regularly. They consist of building cleaning as they have no janitors - this would be cleaning toilets, kitchen clean up, trash removal, window cleaning, and so one. On top of those chores, once a week you're required to do a deep clean of your room - again they are very very nit picky - the walls need to be wiped down, window sills, every tiny nook & cranny. Your room is then inspected telling you if it's up to par. Then once a week is the building's deep clean - this is hosing down the sunroom floor, cleaning the weight room, all class rooms/buildings, kitchen, bathrooms, front entrance, laundry room etc. That is also inspected and you aren't done until they say so. One gets CV's if they didn't do their daily chore "good enough" One new client was issued a CV because 1 empty target shopping bag was in the room & not in the trash.

Also the staff are NOT trained. They have NO medical professionals 24/7, not even in their detox contrary to their claims on their website (medically supervised detox, doctors & nurses on staff) The detox is a cabin, a small cabin and COED! Men share rooms with other males and women share a room with other females, however, the cabin is small and you share the bathrooms, kitchen and living space with both sexes. Any woman who has had past trauma - ie assault, abuse, etc from a man this is NOT the place for you! No background checks on clients are done regarding whether a male has a criminal history of assault, etc. Some come straight out of prison/jail. The majority of the clients appear, to me, to be troubled youth, some who came off the streets and honestly I felt uncomfortable and unsafe. After getting to know some I felt better but in all honesty when you see what looks like punk meth kids it made me feel uncomfortable. I realize everyone deserves a chance to change their lives and I see the staff use intimidation to these kids - they're yelled at in abusive ways. One girl was suspended for exchanging notes with another guy and they both were able to return to the facility and picked up where they left off. She then got into trouble again for socializing with him out of public view and the Conduct supervisor, Doug, yelled at her and was overhead saying "What the fuck are you doing" While I agree her behavior was wrong & this should've been addressed, I don't feel the way in which she was dealt with was appropriate. Any girl or woman with trauma, this type of confrontation can be a trigger! The fact detox and the program is co ed was NEVER disclosed to my family nor myself beforehand. The rooms are unlocked and men are in the room adjacent to women. They have a hired doctor - Dr. Stein - who is off site and they have one nurse who is there during the day and another contracted nurse practitioner. They have NO psychologists or psychiatrists. All staff, or "counselors" are clients who went through the program themselves and when they "graduated" the program, they were immediately hired on as trainees. They do not have any degrees in drug/alcohol counseling, therapy, etc. When I was there, 4 people graduated the program then 2 days later returned as trainees! They claim they treat co-occurring disorders, but NONE OF THE STAFF are even qualified to treat, let alone identify issues. If someone is negative why not HELP them work through it instead of punishing them??? If you speak negatively about the program, staff or mention they were Narconon, you will be punished for it - you'll be issued a CV and get put on amends if they deem it serious enough.

Also the family counselors mislead the families as if you want to leave in 10 days your entitled to a partial refund (they keep $15K) but they will tell your family you just want to get out of treatment so they apply pressure for you to stay. I paid up front, in cash $39,500.00 for the 90 day program. My roommate was insurance pay. At 60 days into her program, she obtained a copy of the billing they've sent to her insurance co and discovered they have blled $100,000.00 and she has another 30 days - give or take to go!!!

Their website claims to have a professional chef which they don't have. They have a cook and trainees also cook. Their food is supplied by Sysco as any other rehab facility and restaurant. Their weight room is non existent as it's some dumb bells and a bench press and they are old. They are building a new cross fit gym. They still claim the sauna will rid your body of all the toxins of your drug/alcohol use. Their basketball is a broken hoop off the driveway path and by the laundry room which has old washers & dryers which work poorly. Everyone & the staff smoke like chimney's but tout fitness, nutrition, etc. They claim you get massages regularly and this is only when you're in the detox cabin. The water is crappy as they have their own sewage system and my skin was always itching!

I was never able to have a private conversation even with my own insurance nurse case manager without their family counselor (Cassidy) present. I thought this was odd. When I learned they were Narconon I told them NOT to contact my family without me present and they would need to admit to my family they were previously narconon. They went ahead and proceeded to call my family behind my back and claim that I was spreading lies about their program, resisting treatment and highly manipulative simply to get out of the program. This was done because they didn't want me to leave within the 10 days so I could get a refund. I had a panic attack and demanded they take me to the hospital and yet they aren't even QUALIFIED to make that type of diagnoses/determination!

Regarding clients' exit strategy, they won't allow one to graduate the program unless they approve who they'll be around, living with, and their living conditions. I can appreciate the need to make sure when one leaves they remain sober but to exert that type of control is too much. Many learn about the program early on and leave - very few actually graduate and those who do, stay on to work there as robots.

I have tried posting my reviews on Rehabs.com but my review is never posted. I also believe all the reviews one finds on Elevate are fictious....I find it hard to believe all the glowing reviews when so few actually even stay, let alone finish. This is just a big money making scheme and as of 2016 they became a for profit organization. I am wanting to get an attorney to get my money back as well as pain & suffering for the additional trauma I went through there.

I made friends with some good people and after I left, they confronted a guy and refused to let him graduate unless the put, in writing, that he and I had an inappropriate relationship. This was done AFTER I made it clear to them I was retaining an attorney and sent them an email the day before confronting the fact they told me I was discharged from the program as I required a higher level of care yet told my family I was so disruptive to the other clients, trying to get other clients to leave the program and that I did all I could to leave the program. Since they slandered me for retaliation purposes and I've caught them, they are now trying to find dirt on me to see if they can keep me from pursuing legal action or using it as a defense. I have asked them, via email, several times to confirm what it was they told my family as my family has told me what they've said, but they won't even address it other than saying perhaps I should get a conference call with them and my family. The fact I hear from my friends who are still in there what they're trying to dig up on me, tells me they purposely caused me additional emotional trauma. BTW, the client who was told to put in writing he & I had an inappropriate relationship refused stating he would NOT admit to something he didn't do. Because he refused they kicked him out of the program, conveniently losing his bank card so he was dropped off at a shopping center with no way to get money for a hotel.

I have since researched and found Elevates former client contracts when they were Narconon and they are the SAME contract they just changed the name from Narconon to Elevate.

Interestingly, the contract portion of "Role of the Family" States something I found interesting:

"EAS is dedicated to helping individuals acheive a drug free, ethical and productive life. In order to meet these objectives, it is critical that EAS staff receives cooperation from the client's family and loved ones. Drug addicts and alcoholics by nature may be dishonest and manipulative. Detoxification from drugs is very difficult and it is not uncommon for an addict to find fault with others (including EAS staff or the program itself) in an attempt to leave the program. This is a common avoidance technique in dealing with serious issues. Problems develop when the family decides to take the side of the addict without fully understanding all of the issues. EAS requests that anyone concerned about the client's treatment first contact an EAS family counselor and express those concerns so that open discussions can occur and informed decisions can be made"

They are motivated to keep clients in the program for monetary purposes. With insurance pay folks, they can continue overbilling their insurance companies - see above regarding my roommates discovery. Also their Refund policy states you're entitled to a refund within the first 10 days of your stay but they will retain $15,000.00. When I tried to leave after I discovered their Narconon ties and that their current staff went through the Narconon program and then worked for them when operating as Narconon (only 5 staff members went through the "Elevate" program which is really just the same program but different terminology and the addition of their SMART recovery and Mindfulness workbook (Mindfulness is just mediation) Elevate family counselor, Cassidy Doherty (Narconon graduate and Narcnon Vista Bay, Narconon Redwood Cliffs family liasion and now EAS Family Counselor) informed my family I was spreading lies about the program & was going to try and maniuplate everyone so I could get out of treatment - so when I tried to leave, my family refused to believe me and they were operating as Narconon and the program was pretty much the same so my family said if I left, I would be cut off. They pray upon family members concerns to keep people there to continue billing.

Hi Olive, thanks for joining and posting about this. I hope you were able to get appropriate care elsewhere nd that you are in a better place with your parents on all this. There are name reports on our sister site, Narconon Reviews, about how staff lie to parents and loved ones in order to keep the patient in the program. It's deceptive and wrong.

I have always been of the mind that they were running the NArconon program within what else they were doing there. Too many ardent scientologists involved at the exec and management levels to believe otherwise. Creating a new facility name other than Narconon is what we called Unbranding it, unbranded Narconon facilities. Per wickstrom's programs are all unbranded Narconons.

Please read and follow the instructions on this document if you wish to file a report concerning violations of your rights, as stated here:

Can you give us a timeframe for when you were there? It would give me a better understanding of your information.

My research in the past has shown that Elevate counseling staff have been in compliance with the state of CA licensing of addiction counselors and have been working towards higher licensing so Elevate can become a professional American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Residential Level of Care Desig level facility. AFAIK, they are better licensed there than at Narconon Fresh Start, though I am behind in continued research on all this. I am wondering when you were there in relation to this work they were doing to get the facility and their counselors upgraded on the ASAM levels of care ( as described here https://www.asamcontinuum.org/knowledgebase/what-are-the-asam-levels-of-care/

Elevate facilities and legal fictitious names are now legally under a for-profit company called ENLIGHTICARE, INC. Since Dec 2017

However, they have not updated their entity change with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) liceing department ( as of March 20th, all are still listed as under Halcyon Hoprizons Inc. That's a big no no. ) Maybe someone has time to report this, with the Fictitious Name registry details belowwww.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/Status_Report_March_2018.pdf

I appreciate all you have written here. Its going to take me some time to review it all but I wanted to at least get this info out to you.

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I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

They are motivated to keep clients in the program for monetary purposes. With insurance pay folks, they can continue overbilling their insurance companies - see above regarding my roommates discovery. Also their Refund policy states you're entitled to a refund within the first 10 days of your stay but they will retain $15,000.00. When I tried to leave after I discovered their Narconon ties and that their current staff went through the Narconon program and then worked for them when operating as Narconon (only 5 staff members went through the "Elevate" program which is really just the same program but different terminology and the addition of their SMART recovery and Mindfulness workbook (Mindfulness is just mediation) Elevate family counselor, Cassidy Doherty (Narconon graduate and Narcnon Vista Bay, Narconon Redwood Cliffs family liasion and now EAS Family Counselor) informed my family I was spreading lies about the program & was going to try and maniuplate everyone so I could get out of treatment - so when I tried to leave, my family refused to believe me and they were operating as Narconon and the program was pretty much the same so my family said if I left, I would be cut off. They pray upon family members concerns to keep people there to continue billing.

There are some good resources at narcononreviews.net regarding filing complaints, contacting state agencies and/or health plans when insurance fraud is involved, which would include overbilling.

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The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis.-Dalai Lama

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

Oh my goodness. This topic of Elevate Addiction Services and their wily ways of making name changes, etc. is so transparent. I was also a client there. I can 100% validate Olive18's post & experience. What a sh--show they are operating. I am a regular person normally with no axe to grind, but these guys just need to come clean about their history and it's relevance to Elevate's current M.O. Just look at Dan Mason's linkedin profile. He has 22 years of experience as the president of Elevate Addiction Services?? I suppose so if you add his time at both Narconon AND Elevate, which are the same businesses for all practical purposes. Also note who endorses him on linkedin: Per Winstrom, Angie Manson, Ashly Guernaccini -- all long time Narconon of Northern CA folks, & still affiliated with Elevate Addiction.Just telling the truth. I wish their approach to substance abuse treatment could be known to any future persons in need of real help. For me it was a huge waste of money, a depressing nightmare lasting months, and my aftercare was therapy to deal with the crazy-making trauma. I was able to find real help and I am living well in recovery now.

Oh my goodness. This topic of Elevate Addiction Services and their wily ways of making name changes, etc. is so transparent. I was also a client there. I can 100% validate Olive18's post & experience. What a sh--show they are operating. I am a regular person normally with no axe to grind, but these guys just need to come clean about their history and it's relevance to Elevate's current M.O. Just look at Dan Mason's linkedin profile. He has 22 years of experience as the president of Elevate Addiction Services?? I suppose so if you add his time at both Narconon AND Elevate, which are the same businesses for all practical purposes. Also note who endorses him on linkedin: Per Winstrom, Angie Manson, Ashly Guernaccini -- all long time Narconon of Northern CA folks, & still affiliated with Elevate Addiction.Just telling the truth. I wish their approach to substance abuse treatment could be known to any future persons in need of real help. For me it was a huge waste of money, a depressing nightmare lasting months, and my aftercare was therapy to deal with the crazy-making trauma. I was able to find real help and I am living well in recovery now.

Belated Hello!!

Thanks so much for your informative comment. So happy to hear you received real help and that you are living well in recovery!

I have lots more information about about what they are doing in their 'expansion' using other names ( to expand on what DeathHamster just reported, but I just time limititations right now.

In the meantime, I so appreciate your commenting here, as few do these days about the Elevate /NorCal programs. Anything you can add about the steps of the programs as you found them to be, would be greatly appreciated!

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I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

I'm so glad I found this site a while back. Olive, thank you for your post. Every word you wrote is the truth about this place.

I sent my daughter to Elevate Addition Services and after the third day speaking to Cassidy, I knew something was off. Too robotic!!!! Started to research. How could there possibly 5-star reviews in every category? 1st RED flag. Then digging further, I found reviews that were removed with info that made the hair on my neck rise. I finally found this site and read all I needed to read. I called them and told them to put my daughter on the phone or I was coming to get her. This is so hard for a parent whose daughter might die on the streets. When we spoke, she said she was fine and I told her it was Scientology. They lied and took my daughter off medication in a 4-day taper and lied to me again.

Everything about this place is Scientology. The staff, management, and what's with Dr. Stein. This place should not be allowed to stay in business. My daughter and another girl left, and they coerced them back. It's voluntary, so let them leave. My daughter called me the next day and I went and picked her up. She had the number of the other girl's phone number to call her mom to let her know. I called, and we got her daughter out a week later. They lied to her mom as well.

I just wrote a review to BBB and they posted it with Ashly replying with complete falsehood.

Thanks for joining and posting your experience and that of your daughter at Elevate Addiction Services. I'm sorry she went through that. Is your daughter a minor?

Good for you on doing the BBB review.

Dr Stein can be seen as a pimp in this Narconon Northern California ( later Elevate /Halcyon Horizons) staff video originally titled "Narconon Vista Bay ED Video 2011" created for their eyes only. However, someone posted it to the internet. Later, the original was removed by RuTube but a video of excerpts from it was made before that and it is enough to give you the picture of what staff are doing there. You can see Dr Stein starting around the 6:19 min mark

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

Thank you for replying. Yes, I saw that video and made a copy as well. It's unbelieveable. No words to describe how terrible it is. I cannot believe there are still getting away with this.

Glad you got to watch it!

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I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

I'm behind in getting the following information ( among other things) up at Narconon Reviews site but I thought it best to get it all that I located up onto the internet so that people searching for these new names know they are dealing with a Narconon based program that keeps changing it's names to avoid bad publicity and legal liability.

2) and most importantly: What was once Narconon Northern California ( too many dba names to list ), which then became Halcyon Horizons Incorporated dba Elevate Addiction Services etc... is now a number of new Limited Liability Corporations under the EnlightiCare, Inc dba Elevate umbrella. Compare names, locations, below

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

Take particular note of the Employer Identification Number (EIN). In November 2014 the IRS Exempt Organization database shows EIN 770275827 belonging to Narconon Int, DBA Narconon of Northern California. With a 501(c)3 exemption granted as part of the Narconon Int Group Exemption (GEN 2595). A month later that same EIN is shown belonging to 'Halcyon Horizons Inc', with it's own 501(c)3 exemption (GEN 0000) that is no longer part of a Group Exemption.

The fact the EIN did not change means the corporate structure of the organization did not change, only the name, otherwise a new EIN would have been assigned. It looks like the existing corporate structure was attempting to disassociate itself from the toxic Narconon name by applying for 501(c)3 status in it's own right. Which doesn't change a thing as far as paying licensing fees, etc., "up lines" to $cientology for the use of Hubbard's psuedo-science dren.

I'm so glad I found this site a while back. Olive, thank you for your post. Every word you wrote is the truth about this place.

I sent my daughter to Elevate Addition Services and after the third day speaking to Cassidy, I knew something was off. Too robotic!!!! Started to research. How could there possibly 5-star reviews in every category? 1st RED flag. Then digging further, I found reviews that were removed with info that made the hair on my neck rise. I finally found this site and read all I needed to read. I called them and told them to put my daughter on the phone or I was coming to get her. This is so hard for a parent whose daughter might die on the streets. When we spoke, she said she was fine and I told her it was Scientology. They lied and took my daughter off medication in a 4-day taper and lied to me again.

Everything about this place is Scientology. The staff, management, and what's with Dr. Stein. This place should not be allowed to stay in business. My daughter and another girl left, and they coerced them back. It's voluntary, so let them leave. My daughter called me the next day and I went and picked her up. She had the number of the other girl's phone number to call her mom to let her know. I called, and we got her daughter out a week later. They lied to her mom as well.

I just wrote a review to BBB and they posted it with Ashly replying with complete falsehood.

See below, Shelby. This new lawsuit helps explains why your daughter's dual diagnosis was not addressed appropriately, why Elevate and other Scientology based Narconon programs do not adhere to evidence based medical standards, and why scientologists refuse to apply them to self ( and others)

I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.

Thank you. Elevate has opened facilities in San Francisco & San Jose. Wondering if they will close Watsonville to hind who they really are.

Hi shelby,

I know of no programs in those 2 counties run by Daniel and Angie Manson ( executives, owner - operators of the Narconon based northern California programs under the EnlightiCare, Halcyon Horizons, Elevate Recovery, , Seascape Recovery, etc -which I listed previously. )

Can you look over this pdf of the latest state licensed programs in California by County, to see the names they are operating under and locations in those counties you mentioned? You can keyword search by county first ( San Francisco then San Jose), then scroll down to see all the programs listed.

As of this month, they are using ELEVATE ADDICTION SERVICES as program owner for all of their differently named programs. As far as I can see, none of those listed in San Francisco or San Jose County are owned and operated by Elevate Recovery

As long as they are making money. the Watsonvillle properties will never be sold to any unrelated entity. its been flipped to EnlightiCare from Halcyon Horizons in the last year or so. Before that, it was Narconon Northern California to Halcyon Horizons.

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I am a volunteer advocate for victims of the Narconon scam. I am a former scientologist. I post anonymously. Mary McConnell is my long time nom de plume. Feel free to contact me for assistance in righting the wrongs.